The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has issued its new World Ranking.
Accordingly, the Armenian national squad are still 102nd in the FIFA standings. The team has not played any games since the previous ranking, and their once 30th ranking was a record-breaking high for the country.
Belgium, France, Brazil, England, Uruguay, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, and Colombia are in the top ten, in that order.
Head coach of Armenian Greco-Roman wrestling squad Eduard Sahakyan named the athletes who will represent Armenia at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Budapest.
Gevorg Gharibyan (60 kg), Slavik Galstyan (67 kg), Maxim Manukyan (87 kg) and Davit Ovsipyan (130 kg) will represent Armenia.
Artur Aleksanyan (97 kg) and Karapet Chalyan (77 kg) have qualified to the Olympic Games.
Gevorg Gharibyan and Artur Aleksanyan won European titles, while Karen Aslanyan and Karapet Chalyan took home bronze medals. The coaches of the national team have summed up the championship today.
Eduard Sahakyan
We got four medals, but missed out in other weight categories. I think Karen and Karapet could reach the finals. Competition was tough, I am generally satisfied with the results. We have qualification events ahead of us, so we will start preparing for them.
Gevorg Aleksanyan
The results are good in general, although we got no medals in some weight categories.
Gevorg Gharibyan has proven he is a top-class wrestler. He had some difficult matches but met all our expectations. Karen Aslanyan won his second European bronze. I think it was the referee’s mistake that Karen did not reach the final. The three referees from that match were dismissed, but it is no consolation to us.
Karapety Chalyan’s road to the semi-final was hard. He fought well until the 4th match. He got the bronze, but he has a lot of room for growth. Artur Aleksanyan has proven again that he is fully recovered. We will try to get him more matches until the Olympics. He gave no chances to his opponents. They could see they were losing and attacked Artur early on, I’m glad he didn’t lose his temper. He has issues with his teeth now, because all three opponents hit him, so he’s getting treatment.
Samvel Gevorgyan
I am happy Armenia has a new champion. Gharibyan won the title in the junior category and this time he got one in the senior tournament. Last time we won so many medals 12 years ago, in 2008, I’m glad to see this achievement.
21:23,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The “Foreign Policy” has published an extended Article about Armenia, headlining it “Make Armenia Green Again”. ARMENPRESS reports the author of the article visited one of the villages in Ararat Province, talked with its residents, who told about their living conditions, the regular shooting coming from the Azerbaijani side, as well as about making their country green again.
“Riding high on the heels of a peaceful revolution that swept out years of corrupt oligarchy, Armenia’s new reformist government, led by the former journalist Nikol Pashinyan, has pledged to double the country’s tree cover by 2050 as part of Armenia’s commitment to the Paris climate agreement goals.
Since 1994, the Armenia Tree Project (ATP), a Massachusetts-headquartered nonprofit staffed by Armenians and Armenian Americans, has led the country’s reforestation efforts. ATP nurseries, greenhouses, community forests, and planting sites dot virtually every corner of Armenia, from the lush, leafy Georgian border down to disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. Their forests often memorialize; they’re named for genocide survivors or are dedicated to patriotic themes. In 2001, ATP planted the poplar and fruit trees skirting the roads around the 13th-century Noravank monastery to honor Armenia’s 1,700-year anniversary as the world’s first Christian nation.
Scaling up that model, in October at the country’s inaugural forest summit—Forest Summit: Global Action and Armenia, convened by ATP and the American University of Armenia—Pashinyan announced that doubling the tree cover would begin with 10 million trees planted by Oct. 10, 2020—representing the global population of Armenians. To put that number into perspective, after 25 years on the ground, ATP celebrated its 6 millionth tree planting only late last year”, reads the article.
02:41,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Renowned Armenian actor Yervand Manaryan has passed away at the age of 96, the artist’s granddaughter Lilit Manaryan said on social media.
Manaryan was born in 1924 in Arak, Iran. He immigrated to Armenia in 1946 and enrolled in the Yerevan Theatrical Art Institute, graduating the filmmaking faculty in 1952. Besides acting, he was also directing and scriptwriting.
In 2003, he was awarded the title of Merited Artist.
In October 2018, PM Pashinyan awarded Manaryan the title of People’s Artist of Armenia. A year later Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan awarded the artist the title of Honorary Citizen of Yerevan.
Shortly after the news about Manaryan’s passing, Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan expressed condolences in a statement on social media. “It was with great pain that I learnt about the passing of one of the greatest Armenians of our times, Yervand Manaryan. One of the best Armenian citizens, the best artists, best scholars left us. Rest in peace, MASTER,” Mirzoyan said.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
09:39,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian issued a congratulatory message on Artsakh’s Revival Day, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
“Dear Compatriots,
Today is Artsakh’s Revival Day, and I congratulate us all on this occasion.
The very name of the day conveys completely what was happening on February 20, 1988 on the central plaza of Stepanakert. On that day not only Artsakh was revived but the Armenian dream itself, the idea of independent statehood. That day solidified our unity, and a strong message was sent that the time for restored justice and victory of freedom had come.
The Artsakh movement, which spread with the lightning speed in Armenia and resonated with every Armenian no matter where they lived, was the premonition of Artsakh’s and Armenia proper’s independence. Very soon it became a beacon which multitudes of the people of the Soviet Union, who were striving for freedom and democracy, turned their glances to.
Elections of the President of the Republic of Artsakh and National Assembly, which will take place a little more than one month from now, are anchored in the Artsakh movement, in the decision proclaimed 32 years ago at the central plaza of Stepanakert, the decision to be free and independent. Yesterday it was momentous, today it is irreversible, tomorrow it will be permanent, eternal.
The world is changing constantly and continuously, and Artsakh is part of that world. Thirty-two years ago the Artsakh movement was able to turn the wheel, which seemed to be immovable, was able to change mentality, was able to expand the boundaries of freedom and justice and because of all that to create a state with heroic people.
Artsakh earned and now has the right to live a free and independent life, the right to empower its historical fatherland on the world map.
Long live the free and strong Artsakh!
Long live the heroic Armenian nation!” reads the President’s congratulatory message.
10:22,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Government officials are expressing condolences and sympathy over the death of Yervand Manaryan, the renowned actor and filmmaker who passed away February 20 at the age of 96.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shared on social media a 2018 photo of himself with Manaryan and wrote “May God rest your soul, dear maestro”. The photo was made in October 2018, when Pashinyan was caretaker prime minister and visited Manaryan in his apartment.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan also offered condolences, saying “Yervand Manaryan the artist, the scholar, the citizen will always be in our hearts and minds”.
Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Arayik Harutyunyan said Manaryan was “an example of a free mind and unconstrained scholar…” “…..literally a people’s artist”. “A luminous presence left us”, he said.
Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan had also earlier offered condolences and sympathies over Manaryan’s passing.
Manaryan was born in 1924 in Arak, Iran. He immigrated to Armenia in 1946 and enrolled in the Yerevan Theatrical Art Institute, graduating the filmmaking faculty in 1952. Besides acting, he was also directing and scriptwriting.
In 2003, he was awarded the title of Merited Artist.
In October 2018, PM Pashinyan awarded Manaryan the title of People’s Artist of Armenia. A year later Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan awarded the artist the title of Honorary Citizen of Yerevan.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
10:41,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a letter of condolences over the death of renowned Armenian actor, director and screenwriter Yervand Manaryan, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.
“With a deep sorrow I learnt about the death of our renowned artist Yervand Manaryan.
Yervand Manaryan was a wonderful people’s artist whose characters enriched the Armenian cinematography and captured an unforgettable place in the heart of the Armenian audience. He was a great actor, screenwriter, director and a teacher who enjoyed a great popular love and reputation.
In addition to being a great artist, Manaryan was also an active citizen of Armenia who for many years was acting from the positions of fight for justice by always expressing his clear stance.
The memory about the renowned artist, his creative and civilian activity will remain alive in the hearts of numerous generations of the Armenian people. On behalf of the whole Armenian people and myself personally I extend my deepest condolences to Yervand Manaryan’s relatives, friends and fans of his art”, reads the PM’s condolence letter.
People’s Artist of Armenia, actor Yervand Manaryan passed away at the age of 96.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan